Photo: Reuters

What do Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, underage drinking and Pakistan’s only beer maker have in common?

It was the arrest of the Hollywood stars’ daughter in New York with a can of Murree Brewery’s beer in June that propelled the company out of obscurity and into the spotlight.

Inundated with e-mails asking about its beer, Murree Brewery seized on the free publicity to launch expansion plans outside the Muslim nation, where alcohol is banned and those that do drink can become targets of Taliban militants and Islamist fundamentalists.

Five months since the arrest, the 150-year-old company says it has lined up distributors that could see its flagship beer arrive on liquor store shelves in the US and Dubai as early as the first quarter of next year.

“Demi Moore and Bruce Willis’ daughter gave us multi-million dollars worth of publicity by default. We plan to go to the United States and make a queue to hug both the daughter and the mother,” Sabih ur Rehman, special assistant to the chief executive, joked with reporters.

Murree Brewery, established in 1860 by British colonial rulers to supply beer to their troops, is desperately looking for business overseas to hedge against its uncertain domestic market. Prohibition was imposed in Pakistan in 1977, and non-Muslims and foreigners must obtain a government permit to purchase alcohol at designated retailers, mainly upscale hotels.

Relying on word of mouth and an influx of thirsty diplomats and foreign investors, annual alcohol sales have grown an average of 20 percent over the past five years, reaching US$26.8 million this financial year. The company’s stock is up 175 percent so far this year, trading at 160 rupees on Tuesday, far outpacing the 42 percent rise in the Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark index.

Despite its strong sales, the company’s net profit after taxes rose a mere 1 percent year-on-year to 525 million Pakistan rupees (US$5.48 million) for the year ended on June 30, due to an increase in alcohol taxes and rising labor costs.

Murree Brewery chief executive Isphanyar Bhandara lives in constant fear that authorities will shut down alcohol production at any moment as Pakistan drifts towards a more conservative interpretation of Islam.

“Pakistan is moving more and more to the right. That is not good for Pakistan and not good for us,” the 39-year-old executive said at his office in Rawalpindi, a military city just outside the capital, Islamabad

To ensure its survival, the brewery, which employs 1,100 people, has turned to Europe to produce its beer for overseas consumption due to a Pakistani government ban on alcohol exports, which was eased just recently.

The Pakistani brewery said it has reached an agreement with the Czech Republic’s Zatec Brewery to produce at least 5,000 cases, each containing 24 bottles of Murree Beer, annually from next year. That amount will double in 2015, Rehman said.

However, Zatec Brewery managing director Martin Kec said he knew nothing of this arrangement and his firm had only produced a very small amount of Murree Beer in the past.

Murree Brewery also said it has lined up distributors in Texas, Dubai and Denmark to market and sell its lager under franchise agreements, and is looking for partners in Britain and other European countries.

“We are virgins and we are looking for husbands,” said Bhandara, whose family is from the country’s non-Muslim Parsi minority.